Call Out

[metriod]

I would have preferred if it were someone else to write this post as I am not comfortable doing so but I feel like the following needs to be said and I want to get it off my chest.
Some of it relates to recent events, some of it concerns matters that did not feel right to me for the longest time. I will refrain from naming any individuals but to some of you it might be obvious anyway.

The first point has been discussed on Telegram already. I think that is a shame, these are things best addressed as a community on here. Poloverse > Facebook | Telegram
I will separate this into multiple posts as some people might not want to take an active part in the discussion but might still want to show agreement with any of the following points by liking the respective posts.

Not sure if it is a call out or a rant. Take it as you want. This might not gain me any popularity points but to be honest, post-covid, I do not actually care that much any longer either.

Here we go:

[metriod]

1. I am seeing
   two bullies.
   One is more of a bully to players on the court, while the other is more of a bully to players off the court.
   One player is a physical bully, the other player is a verbal bully.
   They admit their wrongdoings and I believe them, when they say they are working on being better.
   But it has been more or less a decade, a decade of bullying innocent people of this community.
   I do not know the best measure to address this but I know that “I am working on it” simply does not cut it after seeing this behavior over and over and over again.
   We need to enable and empower the community to deal with this kind of behavior such that innocent players, refs, parts of this community no longer need to suffer.
   To say it with the words of BP Leipzig:
   Diese Aggression läuft hier nicht!

[metriod]

2. I am disgusted
   by the toxicity of hearing a player seemingly brag to others about telling a player on the court “…if you do this shit again…. I am going to fuck you up” and consequently, the group making fun of that players apparent lack of English.

[metriod]

3. I am ashamed
   by the insensitivity of this community chanting “Bouchard Al Assad”. A play on the name of a dictator responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives and I ask myself how would I explain this to Syrian friends who fled and left everything behind, were they to witness this at a tournament in Vienna.
   This from a community that prides itself on being inclusive.

EDIT:
To clarify, I don´t know the origin of this chant and am not blaming Bouchard. I am calling out the community that deems it OK to use this chant.

[metriod]

4. I am wondering
   why the one time, the first time a tournament hosted in Europe tries to extend its understanding of inclusivity to non-white person, a non-white person is criticized publicly for accepting this token of inclusivity.
   Are those that criticised aware of the struggles the person may have had to face, to get where they are now?
   Why was this criticism of that persons choices not voiced last year, why not at any opportunity after this one tournament. Why did it have to be the one time, the first time a European tournament catered to the inclusivity of non-white people.
   I am left wondering about this.

[metriod]

===-------------------[]

[OGxBENJI]

as we grow as a sport and become more mainstream this whole behaviour has to go.

but it also took us time as a community to adress such issues and as you said it took a decade to organize us as a proper structure that is even able to define rules

thanks for voicing this publicly i hope people respect this post.

i would say that the hard part is as a ref or organizer you have to confront people with “unsportmanship” toxic behaviours and most dont want to be involved in that.

i would like to create within the euro board or the nah board a body that takes complaints and resolve them for geoups who dont want to deal with it , maybe people would feel more accountable.

hope people respect the public space more and realize not every joke or heckle is good to say

thank you again mateen

[django]

“I am sorry judge, I will try do better next time. I am the victim of my own ego. Buhuhuhu.”
“I believe you, case dismissed!”
To be repeated…